NON-FICTION BOOK CLUB
July 2016 Selection
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THE WRIGHT BROTHERS
by David McCullough
On a winter day in 1903, in the Outer Banks of North Carolina, two
brothers—bicycle mechanics from Dayton, Ohio—changed history. But it would
take the world some time to believe that the age of flight had begun, with the first
powered machine carrying a pilot.
Orville and Wilbur Wright were men of exceptional courage and
determination, and of far-ranging intellectual interests and ceaseless curiosity.
When they worked together, no problem seemed to be insurmountable. Wilbur
was unquestionably a genius. Orville had such mechanical ingenuity as few had
ever seen. That they had no more than a public high school education and little
money never stopped them in their mission to take to the air. Nothing did, not even
the self-evident reality that every time they took off, they risked being killed.
ISBN 9781476728759
Discussion Questions:
1. The period from 1890 – 1930 was a prolific one in U.S. history for invention.
What conditions – socially, economically, politically, and culturally – made
it such a fertile time for innovation?
2. What factors in Wilbur and Orville’s upbringing and home life made them
predisposed to develop such a curiosity about something like flight and
then attempt to accomplish it?
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3. How would you characterize Katharine’s role in the Wright family and her
effect on the lives of Wilbur and Orville throughout?
4. Wilbur and Orville often spent hours watching birds soar and turn as they
flew. Other pioneers of flight make no mention of doing this. What did the
Wrights learn from their observations of birds?
5. Why were geographic and topographic conditions at Kitty Hawk ideal for
the Wrights to test their flyers? How was the community of Kitty Hawk
ideally suited for the brothers?
6. The Wrights spent hours flying in a cow pasture in Dayton and yet the local
newspaper paid no attention to them even when alerted to what they were
doing. Why do you suppose that the newspapers of the day failed to
recognize the significance of the Wrights’ flying experiments?
7. The Wrights began experimenting with flight knowing almost nothing about
other pioneers who were trying to fly. Do you think they would have figured
out how to fly sooner if they knew more about why other experimenters were
failing? Or do you think it would have made no difference?
8. Orville and Wilbur were assisted by a steady group of helpers in the Dayton
area, in Kitty Hawk, and in France. Who was your favorite member of their
circle? Was there a common personality trait these helpers shared?
9. Does it say more about France or America that the Wrights first truly
succeeded on a grand, public scale abroad?
10. Do you think the brothers were geniuses? Do you think there was
difference between the Wrights as inventors and the Wrights as
businessmen? How did they define courage?
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Review or Comment about this book:
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Recommendations:

If you liked The Wright Brothers, you might like Mornings on Horseback
(http://www.booksamillion.com/p/9780671447540)

If you liked Mornings on Horseback, you might also enjoy Dead Wake
(http://www.booksamillion.com/p/9780307408877)
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